Trial Victories
OCTOBER 2007
Acquittal for Elderly Evictee and Forgery Victim
Facts: The client was an elderly gentleman who was being evicted from his apartment. He went to court to ask that the eviction not be carried out for one week because he was disabled, out of work, and still looking for an alternate place to stay. After being denied without explanation, the client became visibly distraught. A clean-cut man in a suit came over to him and told him that he could help. The man, who the client erroneously believed to be a clerk, went back into the courtroom and came back with a signed order allowing him to stay in his apartment another week.
Unbeknownst to our client, it was not a Judge’s signature on the stay, but a forgery. The client filed the order with the court and returned two weeks later to get an additional stay. However rather than getting an extension, he was arrested.
After a coercive interview, the client, who has no arrest history, “confessed” to an investigator that he knew it was not the Judge’s signature. At trial, Deputy Public Defender Diana Rosenstein cross-examined the police officer about his coercive tactics and did such a great job that the jury disregarded the whole statement.
The interrogating officer admitted that he and his partner questioned the client based on specialized interrogation techniques designed to “elicit the truth” and keep the client from becoming “further entrenched in his lies.” The officer admitted that he had only done five minutes of investigation before coming to the determination that the client was solely responsible for the forgery. When the client told him his story, the officers ridiculed him and told him that his “story” was a lie. Upon arrest, the client regurgitated the story the police told him was the truth.
“The confession made no sense,” says Deputy Public Defender Rosentein. “In situations like these, guilty people don’t stick around, they run. ”
Result: Acquittal
Police Seize Gun from Purse, but Fail to Link it to Defendant
Facts: The client was a passenger in a van that was pulled over and the subject of some suspicious activity two days prior. The police removed the client’s purse from the car. Without her permission, the police searched the purse, and justified it on the grounds that the search was conducted “incident to arrest.” A loaded gun was found in the purse.
The client vehemently denied owning a gun and denied any knowledge that there was a gun in the purse. Deputy Public Defender Leah McLean argued a motion to suppress the evidence of the gun on the grounds that the search was illegal. The court denied her motion. However, at trial, Deputy Public Defender McLean exposed the fact that the gun, although swabbed for DNA, was never tested. Furthermore, the client’s fingerprints were not found on the gun.
Result: Acquittal
Passenger Forces Driver to Evade Cops, Results in Police Chase and Charges Filed
Facts: The client was the subject of a police chase that wound through the streets of San Francisco. When the police finally caught up with the client, he complied with the officer’s requests and offered no resistance. He was subsequently charged with evading police.
Attorney Kyle Schriner, a senior associate at Holme, Roberts & Owen and a participant in the Public Defender’s loaner program, offered the testimony of his client at trial. According to the client, he was under duress to flee from the police. The client explained that his girlfriend’s parolee cousin was in the car with him and that when the cops approached, the parolee forced him to “go, go go.” The client testified that he had picked up the parolee in the projects and that the parolee acted in a menacing and threatening manner. Out of fear, the client complied.
Result: Jury hung 8-4 for acquittal
SEPTEMBER 2007
Acquittal for Client Charged in an Accident that Never Occurred
Facts: At trial a police officer testified that he saw the client drive and crash at 20MPH into another car. However, the client maintained that he was not driving, but rather sitting in his friend’s car outside of her house when the officer approached him and arrested him for an accident that did not happen and for a DUI when he was not driving.
At trial, Public Defender volunteer attorney Daniel Flores called the registered owner of the car to testify that the client never drove the car, but rather it was she who parked her car outside of her house and left the client in the car, where he was subsequently arrested.
The prosecution failed to provide any evidence of an accident – no photos of the scene, skid marks, diagrams, or debris.
According to volunteer attorney Flores, “The government had ample opportunity since December to put together a case and failed to do so.”
Result: Acquittal